


Sunlit Skies

by Persefata



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alexandria Safe-Zone (Walking Dead), Alive Noah, Beth Greene Lives, Bethyl Children, Epilogue, F/M, Fix-It, Older Beth Greene, Post-All Out War Arc (Walking Dead), Post-The Whisperers War, bethyl, dyslexic writer, writer is not a native English speaker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28222632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persefata/pseuds/Persefata
Summary: Moonshine Awards 2020 First Place Winner for Best Complete ZA.For Beth Greene, escaping Grady Memorial Hospital with Noah was just the beginning of a long journey. After months on the run, doing all the kinds of things to survive, they find themselves in Alexandria, a walled paradise where they are supposed to return to regular life. However, things are not that simple.Haunted by the memory of the man she loved and left behind, Beth feels like she has lost her only chance at happiness and resigns herself to a possible future marked by regret.A year later, when the old group she thought lost forever appears in the community's gates, Daryl Dixon safe and sound among them, Beth realizes that she has received a second chance of fate, and this time, she is determined to fight for a happy ending.
Relationships: Beth Greene & Noah (Walking Dead: Grady Memorial Hospital), Carl Grimes/Lydia, Daryl Dixon/Beth Greene, Holly (Walking Dead: Alexandria)/Noah (Walking Dead: Grady Memorial Hospital), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Rick Grimes/Michonne
Comments: 14
Kudos: 67





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Sunlit Skies](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/729378) by persefata. 



> Still translating my old fanfiction (or trying).
> 
> Revised and edited on 20/01.

For some reason, Beth felt that her unexplainable luck was running out.

The fact that she managed to escape Dawn's claws with Noah and without getting caught was a miracle. She knew that. She wasn't stupid.

The rest of their mission was like shooting in the dark because there was nothing but bodies and burned houses when they arrived at her friend's old community. A part of the girl, even if a small one, hoped it would be different.

Beth's year at Grady Memorial left her desperate for safety, for a place where she didn't have to look over the shoulders of both of them all the time. However, the more she walked through that no-man's-land, the more she reinforced her new belief that such a place didn't exist. 

In times like that, Greene found herself thinking about the others if they had survived. If  _ he _ had survived, of course he did. She would have known if Daryl Dixon was dead, She would have felt it.

_ You are acting stupid, Beth _ . The voice of her conscience - which for some reason, is very similar to Maggie's voice - hints at the back of her mind, and she needs to shake her head to dispel the thought. The last time Beth saw him, at the funerary home that the walkers invaded, Daryl told her to run, and she, being the idiotic girl that she was, did just that.

There is not a single day where Greene doesn't regret that decision. Even if they had both died, at least she wouldn't have to deal with the uncertainty and the guilty. Sometimes, when she closes her eyes in the silence of the night, it is almost as if she could feel him on the other side of the invisible thread that connects them.

_ Where did you go? _ . Beth founds herself questioning in thought.  _ Why didn't you found me, like you said you would?. _

And soon after, she feels stupid and selfish. She should be thinking about her sister, mourning her. But it is hard because it is not Maggie's face that the girl sees when she closes her eyes. It's not with her that Beth always dreams with. It's always him, him, him. His voice, his advice, his damn absence haunting Beth at every second of every fucking day. 

She pushes the frustration away from her mind by rubbing her face with an open palm. 

Beth and Noah camped in the woods that night, and he slept curled up next to the tiny fire. There were only a few things Beth was grateful for those days, but her best friend was definitely one of them.

She felt petty and inadequate for sitting there, feeling sorry for herself and rambling about a man who can be dead by now.  _ He's not _ . The girl's stubborn part insists, and she sighs, giving up. While she's too busy being a walking mess, Noah moves on, even after losing his entire family in the massacre that destroyed his whole community.

The insect's noise and Beth's heavy conscience are enough to keep her awake. But there is nothing to be done about the daydreams. She cannot stop the fact that her own mind sabotages her, bringing memories of  _ him _ .

Greene never believed in destiny or considered herself a hopeless romantic. The girl knows that she survived by her own merits and that she is more than capable of keep doing it. Beth would never let her life revolve around someone else, but she wishes she had said goodbye. She craves she had thanked him for everything.

'' Are you alright?''. Noah's voice catches her by surprise, and Beth pulls the knife from her belt automatically, stopping herself a second later.

— Yeah, I'm okay, go back to sleep.

"You're crying." Her friend points out, making an emphatic gesture towards the girl's face.

Greene's unable to mask her own surprise when she touches the corner of her eyes with the back of her hand and feels tears rolling down on her skin.

— It's nothing - She replies, apparently too late because Noah is already wide awake. 

'' Don't worry. We'll make it. ''. Noah reassures her, and she nods, relieved that the boy thinks that their precarious situation is the reason behind her tears.

Of course, the boy knows everything about Daryl and the rest of her old group. Beth told him when they were at Grady Memorial, sharing the reasons they wanted to escape that hell so bad.

In the end, the two of them decided to go to Washington because, honestly, what other option they had?. It was just a few miles, and it couldn't be worse than where they are now.

There is no more food anywhere, and Beth's skills as a hunter weren't anyplace near good. They survived with fruits, forest roots, and a mixture of expired powdered milk with poorly filtered water that she tries very hard not to think on. 

Hunger is not even the most challenging part. Because, with it, the body gets used to it. 

The real problem is the other people. Beth got a new scar on the forehead a few weeks ago, when a man attacked her on the road while Noah scavenged the nearby houses for supplies. The pain of having her head thrown violently against a car window almost made Greene pass out, but luckily, she was quick enough to put a shard of glass on her attacker's throat while he was distracted, trying to pull her pants off.

The even more memorable event, however, happened three nights ago. A couple tried to steal their stuff when they camped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Beth broke the woman's neck, but the guy who accompanied her put a knife to her throat. Noah killed him. It was the first time that her best friend took someone else's life. They haven't talked about it yet.

— Sleep, I'll wake you up on your turn to keep watch - She declares, standing up to take a walk around the perimeter they've established.

Noah raises an eyebrow as if he is about to contradict Beth. Then he seems to think better and ends up giving in. 

\---------

Beth never thought she was going to miss Georgia's weather, but the damp heat of home is better than that suffocating air that made her feel like she was cooking inside out. Noah's situation wasn't much better than hers. Beth could hear his erratic breathing from where she was standing.

  
They have been walking since the sun came out on the horizon. Now on the road off the main route, Greene keeps looking over her shoulder all the time because grass took over the coasting. 

Her neck burns under the scorching sun, and her lips are so dry that she can feel the skin breaking. Despite this, Beth refuses to pass out. She cannot afford that luxury now when they are so exposed.

"Beth, are you okay?".

Noah asks, and she realizes that she stopped in the middle of the road, resting both hands on the top of her knees. Beth nods in response because she doesn't know if she'll have strength enough to speak.

At this point, the sound of the undead following them doesn't even bother her anymore. The wind carries their rancid scent, and if her stomach weren't already empty, she would certainly throw up.

Some stray walkers stumble out of the tall grass, and she picks up the pace, grabbing Noah by the back of his shirt to drag him with her. He limps and trips over the asphalt, knocking them both down when one of the dead pulls his arm. Luckily, Beth already has her knife between her fingers and slides the blade through the rotten skull of the bitter.

"You have to run. I'm just going to slow you down, Beth, run, please." Noah's words make her tense her jaw and move her head stubbornly in denial. She will not make the same mistake twice.

With immense effort, Beth helps Noah to his feet, and they move, walkers close behind. Luckily, the road opens at a fork after a few meters, showing the beginning of a residential area. Greene's sigh of relief almost overwhelms them again, but she manages to go further, locating an old supermarket at the end of the block.

— Hold on, Noah. Just for a little longer - she whispers, tightening her arm around the boy's body.

  
Stumbling, they reach the employees' entrance, where Beth props Noah on a pillar to open the door. She needs three well-aimed kicks before facing the moldy darkness inside the establishment. 

They don't even have a damn flashlight, but they also can't risk it out there any longer. Beth blocks the door behind with a crate full of empty glass bottles, dropping her best friend on a pile of boxes to inspect the best she can. She didn't have taken five steps into the room before she felt the cold barrel of a gun against the back of her neck.

"Hands up, I don't want to hurt you, but I'm not taking any chances either. '' The unknown male voice informed her, and she took a slow breath.

Beth no longer was the naive farm girl or the optimistic idiot of the prison. She ate the bread the devil kneaded at Dawn's hands and learned how to fight back.

She doesn't wait for half a second to hit her elbow in the son of a bitch's head, making the pistol fly away, hitting the floor. He swears in the gloom, and Beth turns to punch him in the face. After so many months of planning an escape in the elevator shafts of the Grady Memorial, she became really good at distinguishing shapes in the dark.

  
Noah, always quick, already took the unknown man's gun and handed it to her.

— If you do anything that harms us, I'll blow your face - Beth says, stepping on his chest and keeping the pistol pointed at his head.

" I won't. " The stranger replies, sincere enough to make her put the gun down.

— Great. I know that a lot of people like to kill, but that is not our thing.

"It is a relief to hear that."

— Do you have a flashlight or something?. She asks, helping Noah to sit down again.

" In my left pocket."

After taking the said flashlight, Beth turned it on, letting the beam of light illuminate her hostage's face. He is a relatively young man, with brown hair and the well-groomed appearance of someone who has a place to stay and does not need to be wandering, like them.

In a way or another, this is none of Beth's business. She stopped believing in the kindness of strangers a long time ago.

— There's a herd coming, as soon as they're gone, we're leaving too, and you can also go on your way.

She sits down next to Noah, passing the gun to him and grabbing their backpack to inspect it. They have half a packet of powdered milk, a bottle of unfiltered water, tape, and aspirin.

" We are screwed," Noah speaks, following the flashlight with his eyes.

Beth closes the backpack and leans her back against the wall.

— No, we'll find something.

"You should have left me behind. You would have more chance without my dead weight holding you back". 

— Don't be an asshole. You're all I have.

"Your bad luck then. ''

Despite her tiredness, Beth is forced to smile at his stupid attempt to joke about their precarious situation. She doesn't care about the fact that a stranger is listening to the conversation. In a few hours, they will be following different paths.

"Sleep, Beth. I'll wake you up on your turn to keep watch."

She's so exhausted that she can't find the strength to refuse and end up lying on the dusty floor, with her face towards the wall. It has been so long since she had the opportunity to sleep in the dark that she practically pass out, her sleep lulled by the sound of the incessant wails of the dead outside.

\-----------

  
_They are sitting on opposite sides of the table, him and she. In the soft afternoon light, which seeps through a dirty window, his blue eyes are like steel._

_"You came back, again. '' Daryl Dixon tells her, and despite the neutral expression on his face, the recrimination is there, implied in his voice._

_Beth knows she's dreaming, she only has that kind of clarity when she's not awake, but she raises her chin defiantly anyway and swallows the lump in her throat because they're here, in the funerary home in the middle of the forest._

_Beth needs to give her subconscious some points because everything about the dream is perfect. The lines of exhaustion sinking into Daryl's face, the carefree way he sits in the chair - one foot on the seat and the elbow at the top of the knee - the hoarseness in his voice and the accent, similar but at the same time, the opposite to hers._

_— It's not my fault if I miss you._

_ All the time. She wants to say but end up restraining herself. So much so that sometimes, there is no room for anything else. _

_ "Tssc, when I sent you out, it was because I wanted you to live. " Daryl scolds her, and as she feels that she can wake up at any moment, she holds on tight to the edges of the dream. _

_ "I'm nobody, Beth. 'You should know better than to keep coming back here." _

_ — But you are, for me you are - She replies, on the verge of panic, she never left that house, to begin with, she cannot escape her regret, and she thinks that there is no greater punishment than this. _

_ Daryl stares at Beth like he can't really understand her, and then she wakes up on the cold floor of a market, with Noah's whispered voice echoing between the walls. _

_ \----------- _

"... We were in this place, a hospital, the woman in charge ... She was a bitch. The beatings didn't bother me, but she practically handed Beth over to some guys who ... Well, you can deduce what they wanted to do with her, so we ran away, it wasn't easy, and I know I couldn't have done it without Beth. She takes care of us both ".

"Where I come from, that kind of thing doesn't happen, that I can assure you. "

She listens to the conversation in silence, without giving the slightest sign that she's awake. It doesn't look good. Noah is too naive. Beth will not allow them to end up at another Grady Memorial. The memory of Dawn's heavy hand and Gorman's nasty smiles remain too fresh in her memory.

Greene turns around suddenly, rising from the floor with the knife in hand.

\- What are you saying to him ?. She demands to know, and the stranger raises his arms, surrendered, behind her, Noah asks her to calm down.

"I ... I come from a community, high walls, electricity, we accept people, and you both seem to be excellent candidates".

For a moment, Beth thinks about putting the knife in his face and ending this, but she and Noah are tired, their lives on the line, her luck is running out, and maybe, this is their last chance.

"When I told you to get out, it was because I wanted you to live." Daryl's words in her dream make the decision that she hopes will be the right one.

—————

  
" What's your name? ".

Beth doesn't know if she should answer for the camera or the woman in front of her, but she's so distracted by the aspect of the room that she can barely care.

Everything is so clean and new ... She's the only thing out of place, filthy and exhausted.

She can see her own face in a mirror behind the shelf, her bones prominent from the lack of food, the ugly scar on her forehead, her cracked and stained with dried blood lips. Beth should look at herself and be ashamed, but she's not. Her eyes are still blue. Her heart is still beating. She's still herself, beneath the layer of dirt and horror.

She survived.

When Aaron, the stranger of the road, talked about bringing them to his community, Alexandria, she had many doubts but now, sitting in a comfortable chair, with Deanna's encouraging smile, Beth thinks she really made the right decision.

-Elizabeth. She says, after a second of hesitation.

She thinks about the journey she made from the farm till there, the decisions she had to make, her losses, things she left behind. And of course, she thinks about him. The way she will never see him again and how it destroys her inside.

Daryl is gone. All she has are frayed memories and a lot of regrets. Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth raises her head.

\- My name is Elizabeth Dixon, but you can call me Beth.


	2. Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beth is like, 24 years old in this. I don't want to pass the wrong impression about her relationship with Daryl. 
> 
> Revised and edited on 21/01.

**1 Year Later:**

Beth liked to think that Alexandria didn't make her soft. Of course, the whole place looked like a dream, but after everything she'd been through, she refused to succumb to weakness. 

It didn't matter the walls or that Deanna had heard her advice about training Alexandria's citizens and putting people to watch on the towers they had built. She's not safe, none of them are, and if they don't let their guard down, no one can take them by surprise.

Heath, another Alexandrian, was going out with a group in a search for agricultural supplies. Elizabeth grew up on a farm, watching her father take their livelihood from the land, and she thinks that it's stupid to depend on cans to eat, especially when there is enough space for planting. Deanna may be a stubborn person, but she knows when to listen and wouldn't put her pride above the community necessities.

— Good luck, Heath, and if you find yourself in trouble out there, call on the radio. We'll hear it.

"Chief Beth." Noah mocks, appearing behind the woman and putting one arm around her shoulders.

— And you, my subordinate, should be working with Tobin - she replies, looking up at him.

By now, Heath has already left because he has no patience to deal with the two of them. Despite this, Beth is unable not to smile. She went through hell, but Noah is a constant in her life, her best friend, her  _ brother _ . Sometimes, she thinks that always will be the two of them against the world.

"Reg came to get some projects at home. We could have lunch together."

— Did Holly allow you? - Elizabeth teases only to see him blush.

" We are just friends. " He responds, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

— We are also friends, and I don't stick my tongue down your throat.

"You are a cruel and horrible person."

Elizabeth smiles sweetly. — And you still love me anyway.

Holy and Noah's romance is the worst-kept secret in Alexandria, but Greene likes it. Holly is older, more mature than Noah. She doesn't trust as easily as he does, and she genuinely seems to like Beth's best friend, which in itself already is enough for her.

— I need to check the traps, but I'll be back for dinner.

As soon as they arrived in Alexandria, Elizabeth approached Old John, a sullen and paranoid survivalist who taught her how to use a bow and follow trails. After her arduous classes with John, she realized how soft Daryl was with her when he taught her in the forest.

"Be careful, Robin Hood, I'll see you at night."

— Send my regards to Holly. She taunts before moving out of his reach.

\-----------

Before she got in Alexandria, Elizabeth didn't understand anything about motorcycles, but nothing that a little persistence and constant visits to the makeshift library in the community wouldn't solve. Aaron helped too, in his garage, with the occasional appearance of Eric telling them to  _ 'stop making so much noise, do you guys know what time is it?'. _

She kept looking for anything that can connect her to  _ him _ .

The engine of Elizabeth's Harley-Davidson Street 750 roaring with life is the only sound on the dirt road, the wheels raise dust, but even that doesn't bother her because there's nothing like the freedom of the wind on her face.

The woman looks at her reflection in the rearview mirror, surprised for a moment by how much it has changed. Her eyes are still the same; blue and perpetually childish, but she's older now, with scars here and there on her face, hair two shades lighter because of the sun, short, barely reaching the top of her shoulders. Expression haunted by their absence, by  _ his _ absence.

Elizabeth takes a deep breath and focuses on the road. The weight of her compound bow attached to the shoulder is familiar. It brings her security. It's so hard to move on when she never had a chance to say goodbye. 

With a sigh, she shakes her head and focuses on the job of removing the hunt from the traps, gathering everything in a pile at the back of the bike before reassembling the traps, tying it all up, and getting ready to go back home again.

Olivia, the woman responsible for the pantry, knows how to cure meat, and having more food never hurts.

Elizabeth takes a moment to receive the sunlight directly on her face. She's alive, as  _ he _ wanted, and if she cries a little for being here when Daryl isn't, well, no one will ever know.

\-----------

"Open the gates. It's Dixon." Aiden Monroe informs the others of his post at the watchtower.

Before, Deanna's son used to call her Beth, but that changed after the woman said that she would punch his face if he invited her again for a date. Aside from the insistence that borders on stalking, she really has nothing against Aiden, but it would not be fair to accept his invitations. What he wants from her, she cannot offer.

Elizabeth's heart is elsewhere.

As soon as the gates open, she gets on the bike, parking it in the yard and unloading with Olivia's help.

"Aaron brought a group, a large one. Deanna asked you to go to her house when you got back. She is interviewing them."

— All right, I'm going — she answers, on autopilot.

Elizabeth finds it easier to deal with newcomers than with the older residents of the community. Whoever comes from outside doesn't give a damn about the scar on her wrist, or her favorite shirt, which was once white, but now is just an agglomerate of indistinguishable stains, or for her gun, stuck in the holster of her leg and always within reach of her hand.

— My name is Elizabeth. Welcome to Alexandria. —she says, and the man examines her outstretched hand for a moment before shaking it with his own.

"Abraham Ford." He mumbles, giving space for a pretty Hispanic woman to greet Beth, she introduces herself as Rosita Espinosa, and the scared looking guy next to her is called Eugene Porter.

"Ah, it's good you're here. Guys, this is Elizabeth Dixon, our security chief. She came from outside, just like you, practically all of our defenses were her ideas, and I'm sure if you have any problem, Beth will be happy to help ". Aaron's voice reaches Greene's ears, and she approaches him, nodding.

— Of course, I live in house number — she doesn't finish the sentence, her words die in her throat because she knows the rest of these people, at least most of them.

She knows them, but she didn't think she would ever see them again.

— Maggie? — Elizabeth's voice sounds childish, like she's seventeen on the farm again.

The woman's sister's eyes widen, her mouth opens, but there is no sound. Beth doesn't expect an answer to hug Maggie with all her strength. Sasha is there too, and Carol. Michonne, Carl, Judith, Glenn.

There are also people Beth doesn't know, a priest and a shy girl with hair in a ponytail.

— Where's Rick? — she asks quietly, not wanting to leave the joint hug that the meeting with her older sister has transformed.

She asks about Rick because she cares. She fears the worst and doesn't have de audacity to hope. She doesn't even think about  _ his _ name.  _ Be grateful for what you have, you stupid girl _ . Elizbeth thinks, closing her eyes for a moment. She stopped having faith and checking for each newcomer a long time ago.

"He's in there, talking to Deanna," Maggie responds, and when Elizabeth opens her eyes to look over her shoulder, she feels her knees buckle.

Daryl Dixon is standing behind her sister, the crossbow lying on the floor and his expressive face desperate. He's looking at Beth like a man who sees a mirage. Like she holds the sun in her hands. Like he doubts his own eyes. Elizabeth's heart is beating so fast that it's all she can hear when she pull herself out of Maggie's arms, approaching Daryl slowly because she's afraid he will fade if she moves too fast. She's afraid to wake up.

"Elizabeth Dixon, uh?" He says, his voice full of mockery, but his hands are shaking, just like hers.

She doesn't know if she should get any closer, she doesn't know if she should touch him, and while she's drowning in uncertainty, he decides for both of them.

Daryl catches Elizabeth in a hug halfway, lifting her off the floor and spinning her in the air. His chest vibrates as loudly, Daryl smells of sweat, hay, and blood. She feels safe. In his arms, she's at home.

"I looked for you everywhere. You were gone." He whispers, completely losing his composure.

— I'm here now — she whispers back, standing on tiptoe to join their foreheads together.

Elizabeth doesn't give a shit about their audience, and from the way Daryl keeps his arms tightly around her waist, she knows that he doesn't care either. They are both laughing and crying at the same time as idiots.

"I knew that 'you were alive."

— And I knew you were going to miss me.

She wants to apologize for running like an imbecile, but it's been so long, and it seems so irrelevant now that they're here, with their family, that she lets it go, focusing on his body heat, the pace at which his heart beats against hers.

"Beth?". She recognizes Rick Grime's voice even after all this time. He's coming with Deanna, his incredulous expression making Beth smile.

— Hi Rick, thanks for bringing them here — She says, accepting his embrace gladly.

"They were the ones who brought me," Rick replies, between a laugh.

— We're together now. That's what matters.

\-----------

In the evening, they sat around the dining table in Rick's house. Deanna sent clothes and toiletries for them to clean up, and like any reservations they had against the place disappeared with Beth's presence, her family looks like a real family, as it should be.

—... And thanks to my Noah, I wouldn't be here without him. She finishes the story of how they escaped Grady Memorial, lacing her fingers with her best friends across the table.

The fact that Maggie and the others already seem to like him is a relief. Beth couldn't choose between her two families. They should become just one.

"Nonsense, Beth saved us both, I wouldn't have lasted a week on the road without her, much less made it this far."

"Deanna said that the spears in the cars, the checkpoints, and the training of civilians were your idea," Rick speaks, apparently agreeing with Noah and sporting a curious expression on his face.

Greene laughs, her eyes going from him to Daryl and Carol.

— Yeah, I had good teachers.

A laugh of agreement fills the room.

"This place is good. " Glenn says.  
"And it will get even better. " Maggie completes.

Even with all the losses they suffered along the way, she can only recognize that they are right.

\------------

  
Most are already asleep on the mattresses scattered around the room, and the lights are off when Elizabeth leaves the house. Noah went to their house two hours ago.

Daryl is alone on the dark porch. She approaches slowly, swallowing her own nervousness as she stands beside him.

— Hi.

" Hi. " Daryl replies, turning to face her.

A strange, expectant silence circulates between them until he speaks again.

"Noah looks like a good kid."

— He's the best — that's all she says, and then the silence reigns for a few more seconds.

" Are you happy? ".

Elizabeth opens her mouth and then closes it, incredulous at what he seems to be implying.

— It's not like that.

" And why not? ". Daryl looks really confused now, and she needs to contain the need to roll her eyes.

— Because we're just friends, and even if that weren't the case, my heart belongs to someone else.

Staring at her face directly, he finally understands, and his hurt look almost makes Elizabeth regret having opened her mouth in the first place.

"Beth ...". The hoarseness in Daryl's voice is a warning. She doesn't care. She's not the girl who ran at the funerary home anymore.

— No, Daryl, you have no idea what it was like for me to lose you, sleep and wake up every day thinking that I would never see you again.

For a moment, she really thinks he doesn't feel the same, but then his eyes give him away, the delicate touch of the back of his hand against her face. The pain, the conflict so clear in his features.

"Beth, you don't know what you're talking about. You're just a girl, a kid... ".

— I am old enough to know what I want, what I feel. I survived on the road until I got here, I killed, I experienced the worst side of the world, and you want to blame me for wanting something good?. That's not fair.

"You deserve better than me."

— You don't understand ?. There is no one better than you, Daryl Dixon. You are good, loyal, brave, and kind, and I almost went crazy when I thought I had lost you forever.

She approaches with each word until she has him trapped between the porch pillar and her body. She can see the movement of his throat when he swallows. Daryl looks like a man who is losing a battle against himself.

"Beth." Her name in his mouth is a sigh, a prayer, a plea. His eyes are all she can see clearly. They are filled with a vulnerability that almost makes her hesitate.

— Tell me that you don't want me, say that you don't feel the same way... If that's why I swear I'll never talk about it again, but if it isn't ...

They are so close that she drinks his breath, and honestly, They already wasted too much time on this. Elizabeth doesn't give a damn about any stupid moral code that Daryl thinks he has to follow. She's not a child. If she's old enough to have to kill, then she's old enough to be sure of her feelings.

" I don't deserve you. " He says to her, so low she can hardly hear it.

Greene moves her head negatively, wrapping his face between her hands.

— You deserve to be happy, and so do I.

The next thing she knows, she's kissing him. The feel of his mouth on hers is enough to destroy any coherent thoughts she might have. For a second, she thinks that Daryl will push her away, but he brings her closer instead, his arms tightening around her body.

Kissing him is like the calm after a long storm. Kissing him is like coming home. Slow desire spreads through her veins at the same rate as their mouths chase each other.

When they split up, he looks at her. He just looks at her like he's never seen her before. Elizabeth swallows her own slow breath, taking one of Daryl's hands between her before pressing his open palm against her chest.

— Are you listening?. It's how much I love you — she says, through tears that, for the first time since it all started, are not from sadness.

He makes a disapproving sound with his mouth, but his free fingers trace her face delicately as if she were something precious.

"You are a stubborn girl, Elizabeth  _ Dixon _ ." Daryl teases, a mocking smile lifting the corner of his mouth.

The rest of their people were kind enough not saying about her stolen surname, but from the knowing looks she received from Maggie and Carol over dinner, they seem to understand what Daryl means to her. Anyway, she's not ashamed, Fate has given her a second chance, and she's not going to waste it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revised and edited on 21/01.

**Alexandria Safe-Zone - 10 years later:**

Standing where she was, Beth could hear Tom Waits's musical voice singing "Hold On." one of her favorite songs, but since she knew that it was easier to freeze hell than to convince Daryl to dance with her, she content herself to stay standing, with his arms around her back and her face on his shoulder.

That part of Alexandria was relatively new. It was built after the end of the confrontation with the Saviors after they blew up almost everything. Beth hated to think about that time, about Glenn and Abraham's death. About Negan taking Daryl from her, even if only temporarily. 

She pulls away slightly to face him, wrapping her hands around his neck.

" What is it? ". Daryl asks, frowning, but she shakes her head before kissing the man.

"Eww, gross!". Their daughter's exasperated voice takes them by surprise, and they both start laughing. Annie is seven, born in the middle of the war against whisperers. Beth had to leave her ten-day-old baby in the hands of her godparents, Noah and Tara, to join the fight.

But now, this is over. No more saviors. No more skin masks. Rick Grimes was true to his promise, and they all built a new world.

Annie's dark blond hair is in a braid probably made by Judith. Her pink boots crush the grass as she approaches, bringing her little brother by the hand. Shawn just turned four, inherited Daryl's expressive blue eyes and Beth's stubbornness. Dog, the most patient creature in the universe, follows them right behind.

— Your father and I love each other. There's nothing gross about it, Annette - Beth tries to scold her, but both she and Daryl are terrible at the whole  _ ''strict parents' _ ' thing.

"She's right. It's gross". Shawn replies, making a hilarious face.

"And what do you know about gross things, uh, kid ?. Don't you think that I don't know that you and RJ challenge each other to eat all the kinds of things that you've shouldn't have," Daryl speaks, but behind his words, the affection is remarkable.

"That's different," Shawn replies, crossing his arms over his chest and assuming a posture so identical to his father's that Beth can't even pretend to be mad.

— You two, that's enough. We can't be even later.

That is the only thing they all agree on. Annette demands to be carried on Daryl's back, and Beth picks up Shawn so they can get down the street faster, towards Alexandria's main block, where the 5th community festival is taking place. Beth is proud to see what they have built. She likes to think that her father would be proud too.

Shawn enthusiastically waves to "Uncle Rick" as they approach the Grimes' house, where Carl and Michonne seem to be trying to resolve an argument between RJ and Judith. Lydia looks a little out of place, as always since she left the whispers behind and joined Alexandria, but the tension leaves her shoulders when Carl turns and smiles at her. Beth doesn't hide her own smile. She knows how it is.

Maggie is there too, with Beth's lovely nephew. She releases Shawn to play with the other kids and sits on a beach chair next to her sister.

"Do you believe that Annie fought me because apparently, I don't visit enough?". Maggie says, looking incredulous. 

—Well, she's right, you could visit more. Beth raises an accusing eyebrow in her direction.

"I know, but with all the work at Hilltop ...".

— Look around you, Maggie, we made it. You have the right to relax. 

Her older sister nods, pressing her lips together in a thin line. The landscape around them is almost utopian. They never thought that they would see so many people together again, strangers, acquaintances, friends, family. All in peace.

"I wish Daddy was here to see this. I wish Glenn was here."

— Part of them is - Beth says, watching Hershel and Shawn play with Dog.

Maggie nods, and Beth's eyes fall on Daryl, talking to Rick near the porch. When he looks at her too, and a lazy smile lights up his features, she has the confirmation that everything they faced was worth it. They are surrounded by family, with their children growing up in the new world they built for them.

This world may not be full of picnics, birthdays, and holidays, as she whished in the prison, a long time ago.

But somehow, he is much better.


End file.
